Written by Ted Clarke
Citizen staff
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Thursday, 02 July 2009 |
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Jim Schiman knows the mountain Prince George skier Chris Wong has had to climb to reclaim his spot on the freestyle moguls national team.
It’s a route riddled with more valleys than peaks, but one that could land Wong in the start gate at the 2010 Olympics next February.
In 2002, while competing for Canada at a World Cup event, Schiman crashed and burned on a World Cup a mogul run in Germany, leaving his right knee literally hanging by a thread. It was an injury quite similar to the one in 2006 that knocked Wong out of competition for nearly two years.
It took a pit-bull mentality for Schiman to overcome his own injury and he says Wong is showing the same determination as he tries to retake his position as one of the world’s best hot-dog moguls specialists.
“I was just talking with (national team member) Kristi Richards about it and she was commenting how impressed she is with Chris and everything he’d been through on his way back, and there are a lot of similarities,” said Schiman, the women’s national team moguls coach.
“We did have very similar injuries, but I think his rehab has been a more difficult -- he’s had a harder road. I was pretty fortunate in that I didn’t have any real setbacks. Compared to Chris’s, it was as straightforward as an injury that significant can be.
“Chris had a real tough time getting his range of motion back. They had to go in a couple of times and scope out scar tissue. It’s impressive for sure that he’s come back. There’s only a small handful of moguls skiers who have done that. In our sport, we know injury is bound to happen at some point, and for me it was always, ‘Am I willing to get hurt again?’ and at the time the answer was ‘yes.’”
In January 2004, the year of Schiman’s comeback, the native of Cranbrook proved the effort was worthwhile when he won the dual moguls event in Fernie, his first and only World Cup win. Less than two months later, he wrecked his left knee in a competition, tearing the patella tendon and anterior cruciate ligament. He entered one more World Cup race in 2006 but was unable
to start and retired shortly after that.
Wong came back last season to compete in one World Cup and two Nor-Am events and was preparing for another World Cup at Cypress Bowl when he hurt his shoulder in training. That put him out for six weeks. Schiman thinks that setback was a blessing in disguise.
“He was skiing through a lot of pain last year and that injury took away some starch from him, but it gave him time for his knee to heal up and took the pressure off him,” said Schiman.
“Chris is a natural athlete and his determination is right up there with the best of them. He’s gifted and he’s not afraid to put the work in, and that’s the biggest thing. The tough part for him is 2010 is obviously the goal -- that’s what we’re gearing up for and we’re under a bit of a time crunch. But if anybody’s capable of it, it’s him.”
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 02 July 2009 )
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